just a quick question, a computer power supply is like 500 watts, is that the same electrical usage as a 500 watt hps light? anyone know how many watts on average a tv, dhumidifier, ceiling fan, and ac's pull?
[quote name='johnjohn']just a quick question, a computer power supply is like 500 watts, is that the same electrical usage as a 500 watt hps light? anyone know how many watts on average a tv, dhumidifier, ceiling fan, and ac's pull?[/QUOTE] Not all TV`s dehumidifier, fans etc use the same amount of electricity, if you really want to find out by a $20.00 Kill=A-Watt meter. As for a computer, somethings use a certain amount of electricity while other components can use more as the load on your PC increases. Newegg.com - P3 Kill A Watt Electricity Load Meter and Monitor
so a 500 WATT power supply does not always (continuesly) pull 500Watts like an hps light? I'm just looking for averages, i know there is a range depending on size and other variables.
When your read a rating on an appliance such as a space heater, it will give you the maximum rating. My space heater read 1500watts. If you had the heater set on low, obviously its not pulling 1500 watts. Same goes for most household appliances. Lights take their rated amount of electricity from the grid, and the ballast converts it into a even more powerful light source. The reason the light seems like it adds so much is because your probably paying extra high rates for your electricty. I live in Ca, and my normal rate is 11 cents per killowatt hour, even before I was growing my normal use was high enough that they charged me triple that, when I added the lights i was up to 40 cents per killowatt hour.
a 1000w hps pulls about 1060w total. most appliances will give you the max. output, but even then it's not completely accurate, and they are all different. i have 30w marshall amp that uses about 80-90w so i can hear 30 watts. the same applies to home stereo's, and many other devices. i have a 40w fan that will use all 40w on high but only about 15 on low...it's hard to give any sort of specificity but i hope ya get the idea. to answer your original question....yes a 500w pc will look the same as a 500w hps, providing the pc is using all 500w continuously, to the power company anyway.
Correct, as the work load increases so does the amount of power it uses. Its kind of like a stereo reciever at lower volume settings it uses less power but as you turn the volume up increasesing the work load or in the case the sound the more power it starts to use. Now an HPS light will draw a constant amount of power according to how many watts it is.
Computer power supplies are rated in there output power, so are audio amplifiers. They are rated to the maximum output. the power input is what matters the most as far as comparison to the electric usage. The output power is not accurate because it doesn't take account for the energy lost in making the conversion. The amp the other user was talking about output 30 watts and used 90 watts to make the audio energy. My power supply in my computer is a 450watt, when it is using all 450watts of output power the label says it uses 1150 watts input power, but that inst an accurate comparison to a light, because your computer power usage will vary dependent on how demanding you are using it, where a hid lamp uses all its watts continuously while it is on.
all your electrical questions can be answered with Ohm's law. here is link to a helpfull calculator ==> Ohm's Law Calculator
No, the 2 loads have different Apparent power, Reactive power, and Real power, and their Powerfactor (ratio of Real & Apparent power) are different. The power company charges you based on your (Voltage x Current) x Powerfactor, per hour. No. It depends what class the amplifier has been configured as, and there are dozens of different class's in use these days. A "Class A" Amplifier will use the same input power regardless of what the output volume is. With no signal all of the input power is being dissipated by the transistors in the output stage, and the Amp will be drawing the exact same amount of power as if it had a signal, and was set to full volume. Follow the advice of the First responder to your Question. It’s the easiest way of monitoring your power usage without learning lots of new (and pretty uninteresting) math.